My translation of Gampopa's text is now up on the website. You can find it here. It is probably a good idea to bookmark this page as we go through the text line by line.
The text has three sections: how mahamudra is, how mahamudra comes to be, and how to hone thatness. My commentaries are about the aspects of practice that Gampopa is pointing to in each section. In many of the commentaries, I will comment on the translation challenges in that section and explain why my translation may differ from more conventional usage.
First, what is mahamudra? Mahamudra is a word that points to a way of experiencing life in which awareness and experience are not separate. Keep this in mind as you read these notes.
Let’s turn to the first section: how mahamudra is.
Mahamudra is not a thing. It is not an object of knowing. In particular, it is not something that can be known or understood by the conceptual mind. To drive this point home, to nail it down, Gampopa writes:
Mahamudra has no genesis,
Mahamudra has no conditions,
Mahamudra has no method,
Mahamudra has no path, and
Mahamudra has no result.
The aim of these absolute negations is to reduce distractions and problems. Mahamudra practice largely consists of doing nothing. We rest in awareness. We try not to fall into confusion. We don’t make an effort to have some particular experience. We don’t try to practice anything. Whatever comes up, we try not to do anything with it or to it. This not doing may be simple, but it is not easy.
These five negations are useful. How do we use them?
Today, let’s look at the first one: mahamudra has no genesis.
This sentence is usually translated as “Mahamudra has no cause.” This translation is misleading because it is a misuse of English. It’s like saying that an acorn is the cause of an oak tree. No! An acorn grows into an oak tree. It does not cause an oak tree.
In the context of mahamudra, Gampopa is saying, “There is nothing that becomes mahamudra.” In other words, there is no mahamudra acorn that you can plant and let it grow into the mahamudra oak tree. No such luck.
Let’s consider this from a practice perspective. Let mind and body settle, and then quietly say to yourself, “Mahamudra has no genesis. There is nothing that becomes mahamudra.”
What happens?
There is usually a shift. It’s subtle, but with a little practice you can usually feel it in both mind and body. At first you may not even notice it. When you do, it may last only a moment. No matter. That's why we practice.
Again, let mind and body settle for several minutes. Rest with the breath, or say your favorite prayer. Rest in the sensations of your body, the sensations of breathing. Don’t try to do anything. Just rest. After a while, again say to yourself, “There is nothing that becomes mahamudra.” Do this periodically, allowing a good bit of time (5-10 minutes) before trying again each time. Sooner or later, you sense a shift.
For me, when that shift takes place, a stillness is present, but it’s a bit deeper and clearer than the stillness of not thinking and the sense of time drops away. Then the shift fades or I start thinking about something.
Once you start to sense that shift, you will be tempted to try to hold onto it, to deepen it, to explore it, or to regenerate it as soon as it fades away. Too bad. You are no longer practicing mahamudra. You are doing something. You are working at something. Don't! Stop working. Stop trying to make something happen. Stop trying to control what you experience. Stop falling into distraction.
Rest in the shift. When it fades away or you fall into confusion, continue to do nothing. Just rest. The shift opens a door to another possibility. In a half-hour period of meditation, elicit the shift maybe four or five times at the most. The aim here is to let your mind and body assimilate the ineffable clarity and stillness in the shift. You cannot do that. So don’t. All you can do is pose the question now and then, and then allow the assimilation to take place.
That’s enough for today’s newsletter. We’ll continue in the next one. I’ll try to write these weekly, but if I miss one or two here and there, DON'T PANIC. Come to think of it, maybe you should keep a towel handy, too. You may need it.
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